Family ties
by Kinky-bootz88
Summary: This is a sequel to My Saving Grace. Chuck and Blair have settled into family life with three children, but when Blair's career thrusts her into the spotlight somebody she doesn't know she is hiding for finds her and this might tear her family apart.
1. A Bass Breakfast

**A: I wrote a story called called My Saving Grace years ago. I had started a sequel straight after but then my life got crazy and I was too busy. I have just finished my degree and I have the summer off before my Masters starts at the end of September so I thought I would rewrite the sequel. Please read and review. **

Chuck closed the door behind him and loosened his tie. The house was quiet, meaning Blair probably hadn't come home from work yet and the kids were (hopefully) upstairs doing their homework. Tabitha had protested when they moved from their house into this one, they had lived there for two years after Savannah, their second child was born but when Blair got pregnant with Charlie it wasn't practical to live in an apartment building, especially given Charlie was a mini Chuck and he made both the girls look like angels. Charlie was now five and he was nothing like Tabitha or Savannah had been at that age. Chuck couldn't imagine having a sixteen year old, a nine year old and a five year old cooped up in an apartment. Tabitha came into Chuck's life when she was five years old and moved straight into his hotel. She became his best friend over night. As Blair put it, Charlie was "spirited", as Tabitha put it Charlie was "the only contraception she ever needed". Savannah was exactly like Tabitha, she was too smart for Chuck to keep up with, she looked exactly like Blair and she had an answer for everything. Chuck was always glad he had Charlie to do manly things with, and from the age of four answered everything with "because I'm Charlie Bass".

Tabitha came out of the kitchen with a candy bar hanging out of her mouth and her fingers feverously texting on her phone. Chuck reached up and took the candy bar out of his daughters mouth and took a bite of it, "hello number one child. How was school?"

Tabitha put her phone in her back pocket and took her candy bar back, "urg it was awful, Melissa wants to do a circus theme for the welcome back party and I already have three assignments. Do those people not know who I am?"

"They do, you're a student. That means you have to do homework. Harvard doesn't just accept people like a little clique from the Upper East Side. You have to work Tabs."

"Dad, how many assignments did you do in high school?" Tabitha sighed as she followed her dad into the kitchen. "And don't lie we both know the answer is none. You paid people to do them. Plus, I have the party to organise, I have ballet tonight, piano tomorrow and I need to go shopping for an outfit."

Chuck patted his daughter on her knee as she threw herself on one on the kitchen stools dramatically, "Tabitha take a break from the extra curricular activities, you are going to burn yourself out. You can't do everything."

"Mom has always done everything and she has done it in six inch heels. Plus, you graduated high school second in your class so I need to beat you"

"When it was really necessary your Mom asked for help. She knew the benefit of sharing the burden. And I was just a genius and you my dear are ten times better than me."

"Yes but when Mom was in high school she had people to do her homework. I was going to do that and Mom threatened to take my credit card off me" Tabitha raised an eyebrow at her father, "and as for you, I am pretty sure you bribed your way through high school. You seem to forgot Gossip Girl has an archive and so I can always check what you did at my age."

"Tabitha I am your father, do what I say not what I did" Chuck rolled his eyes at his daughter, "plus, there is nobody in the school smarter than you, so paying someone would get you a lower grade than you would get, and let's not lie, we both know you have a credit card Mom doesn't know about."

Tabitha smirked "You always were the soft parent"

"And as for Gossip Girl, I wish you wouldn't go on that abhorrent website. I made a lot of mistakes Tabs" Chuck looked at his oldest child and quickly stroked her hair "and remember that website was BT."

"Is that some silly slang you think is cool?"

"That, my wonder child, means before Tabitha. Your Mom coming back into my life certainly made it so much better but you changed it. And one thing you taught me is that people need to take breaks. When you were younger and we lived in the hotel I used to come to the playroom to find you to take a break from work. You always brought fun into my life, you need to bring some into your own."

"I am totally your favourite child, everyone knows it."

Chuck rolled his eyes, "I love all my children equally Tabs"

"You keep telling yourself that, I am going to go and get my ballet things ready."

Chuck kissed his oldest child on the head, "remember to take some time for yourself Tabitha, you are only young once."

Tabitha put the candy bar back into her dad's mouth as Charlie and Savannah came bounding down into the kitchen, "you are pretty wise for an old guy". Tabitha smirked before turning on her heels and walking away. As she exited the kitchen her two younger siblings ran passed her to jump on their dad. She knew her dad loved all his kids equally but maybe because she was the oldest they shared a special bond. Her mom could drive her crazy sometimes, but her dad always seemed to understand. For the first couple of years of her life it was only her and her mom. Tabitha didn't remember much of it and she didn't think about her life before they came back to New York. She knew they travelled around a lot, and her mom liked to remind her from time to time they hadn't had much money. She knew when things got really bad her mom made the decision to come back and find Dad, or Mr Chuck as he was in the beginning. Her mom told her those two had such a bond from the beginning it was almost like they were related. The biology never bothered either her or her dad. She never had any questions about it, and if anything he spoiled her more than the other two. Tabitha watched how unreserved her dad was while her two siblings clambered over their dad, making it impossible for her to cuff her round the ear for her cheek. Charlie was pulling his dads tie when Blair came through the front door, "hello people, good to see we are all acting civilised."

The two kids jumped up and threw their arms around Blair as she slipped her heels off. Chuck took the pause in attack to jump up and escape his children's grasp. He kissed his wife as he took the mountain of paperwork she always assisted on bringing home out of her hand. It always amazed Chuck that she carried so much paperwork, she never seemed it do anything with it, she just carried it from her office to her, and then back again. Blair still ran the foundation Chuck had set up for her six months after she came back. It had grown significantly and had offices all over the country. After Savannah was born it took a while for Chuck to convince her somebody else could help her run it, but eventually she hired a chief-operating-officer. Some days that made no difference, and Chuck still had to drag her from the office. Blair extracted herself from her children and followed Chuck into the kitchen. She hopped onto the island as Chuck opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine. He poured her a glass and handed it to her, "how was your day darling?"

Blair rolled her eyes at her husband's attempt to be funny "Chuck Tabs would be sick if she heard you call me that. It was good. The New York Times wants to do a big editorial on my life, the reason why I set up the foundation and how it's grown. They want to visit some of the other offices too."

"That's amazing Blair, you should do it."

"Yeah right", Blair laughed at her husband "I would be away for a week, there is no way you could handle three kids on your own for a week."

"We have a personal chef, a housekeeper and a driver. We have the same amount of staff as children so I think I could handle it. I am very good at organising what other people need to do."

Blair nursed her wine glass in her hand and looked at her husband "But I would be away for eight days and Tabs has her exams coming up"

Chuck sat down on a stool and put his hand on her thigh, "I just had a conversation with her singing your praises about sharing responsibilities, I can make sure she studies enough and takes regular breaks. Where do they want you to visit?"

"San Fran, LA and Miami."

"Think of all the sun", Chuck tried to entice his wife, "and the little boutique shops we don't have here. San Fran has the best froyo".

"As long as you are sure you can handle the three kids."

Chuck smiled, "it doesn't matter if you are here or not, they still run rings around me. They are all half you. Don't worry about the kids and think about how many other women you could help if you got all that publicity".

Chuck knew that was what it would take to convince Blair. As much as Tabitha had changed him, she had changed Blair even more. Blair had run away from New York and got pregnant four months later. For four years it was just her and Tabitha, they lived in shelters and moved around a lot to prevent private investigators finding them. Blair didn't sleep the whole time, she stayed awake to make sure nobody touched Tabitha or stole what little possessions she had. After two nights of not getting into a shelter, Blair got a bus back to New York and turned up at Chuck's hotel. Even though Tabitha wasn't his child, Blair knew Chuck would take care of her. No how much Chuck had protested that he was a tough guy, Blair knew he was a big softie on the inside and he took Tabitha and her in. As soon as she saw them both playing together she knew she was still completely in love with him. Blair had worried when she got pregnant with Savannah that there would be a change between the relationship with Chuck and Tabitha, but if anything it made their bond stronger. Tabitha had her dad wrapped around her little finger. She had hardly been away from Tabitha since she had come back to New York and she had never been away from Charlie.

"Are you going to be able to cope with breakfasts?"

"Tabs can help me, and worse case scenario we can go and stay in a hotel".

Blair rolled her eyes at her husband and knew that was probably the option he would take. She only knew how to cook because she had to cook. Chuck had grown up in hotels for most of his life, he only moved out because he wanted Tabitha to have a proper home. This was still New York and most people didn't cook. Take away restaurants were the most used businesses in the city. Tabitha came back into the kitchen in her ballet outfit. She picked up an apple out of the fruit bowl. She rubbed it on her ballet skirt. Chuck raised his eyebrow "you just had half of a candy bar, and now you are having an apple. That's a healthy diet. You need to eat more".

"Stop being old and take me to ballet" Tabitha answered kissing her mom on the cheek "you can buy me dinner on the way home".

Blair hugged her oldest child and then kissed her husband. It really was amazing how much of Chuck's personality Tabitha had picked up over the years. Charlie was just the same. She was glad she had Savannah, she was Blair's mini-me. It still didn't prevent the others from ganging up on her but Savannah always took her side. Charlie came bounding into the kitchen with a picture in his hand "look what I did in school today."

Blair took the picture out of his hand, "that's brilliant Charlie, now what do you want for dinner?"


	2. Biology matters

A/N: Thanks to everyone who took time to read this and thanks to those who left a review. Hopefully you guys like chapter two

Chapter 2: Biology matters

Blair was sitting on the airplane on her way back to New York. The first six days of her trip had gone well. The journalist from The Times had fitted in with her nicely, they were about the same age, and she had a daughter around Tabitha's age so Blair and her became good friends. Blair had let her guard down and decided to do the interview on the last day in Miami while they walked along thee beach. At first the interview was going well. They talked about family life and how Blair balanced everything. Blair started to sing Tabitha's praises and that is when things went wrong. She forgot she was talking to a journalist and things started slipping out.

"_And how do you do it? I mean you run a foundation, your husband owns several hotels in the busiest city in the world and you have three kids."_

_Blair smiled, "well we do have help and my oldest Tabitha is amazing, she helps us with the younger two. For the first four years it was only me and her so I guess I treated her like an adult"._

_The interviewer looked puzzled "why wasn't Chuck involved with his daughter?"_

"_Because he isn't her biological father. Chuck and her only met when she was four. It hasn't been a secret it was all over the internet in New York when I came back, but he doesn't treat her any different than the other two. I mean he loves them all"._

"_So who is Tabitha's dad?"_

"_Her dad is Chuck, that is all matters. Her biological father has never been a part of her life so what does it matter. Can we get back to the foundation please?"_

"_Does he mind another man is raising his child?"_

_Blair wasn't sure who she was angrier with right now, the interviewer or herself. She sighed, "please my daughters' paternity really isn't something I want to discuss. Chuck has seen her everyday of her life since she was four and a half. They have an amazing relationship, she became his best friend nearly as soon as they met. The biology doesn't matter and I really don't want my daughter or my husband to be hurt by anything you publish"_

_The interviewer smiled, "I promise it won't be the main thing but I think it is important for the readers to know your back story."_

"_Trust me they do. It's all on Gossip Girl achieves, now it is just going to be in The New York Times too."_

xXx

Blair stepped off the plane feeling dejected. She knew the New York Times was going to print an article over the next few days talking about Blair and her foundation. She walked as slowly as she could through the corridor, and stood for a while in silence watching her bag going round on the carousel, while replaying the interview over in her head for the umpteenth time. She had asked the interviewer to exclude the details about Tabitha but she said there was no story without it. She promised it was only going to be a small part of the story and the main focus was going to be on Blair's work. They were also going to mention Tabitha's paternity in one sentence, but let's face it that was the only thing people were going to remember. She was about to drag her daughter and her husband through a nightmare. Blair walked through the airport feeling sorry for herself. She looked up to see her three kids standing with her husband holding a sign with her name on it. She smiled sadly, willing herself not to cry. That was probably the last time they were going to be a happy family of five. She wanted an excuse to turn back, to say she had left something on the plane, but really there was no point. It was time to face the music.

"Hey guys," Blair smiled, she wasn't sure how convincing the smile was. Savannah and Charlie threw their arms around their mom. Blair could feel Chuck's eyes on her. She saw him exchange a look with Tabitha and had to kiss her two younger kids on their heads to hide the tears in her eyes. They had no idea, Tabitha had been calling Chuck dad long before Savannah even existed. Tabitha knew Chuck wasn't her father but the other two had no idea. How was an eight year old and a six year old going to handle finding out they had a different biological dad to their sister? How were they going to process what it meant? Would they even know what it meant? How was Tabitha going to handle having the whole of New York know her paternity? Was this going to change her relationship with Chuck? Was Chuck going to hate Blair for reminding the world she had left him? For reminding them Tabitha wasn't his? Blair could feel Chuck's eyes bore into her, the younger kids were asking her questions but Blair felt like she was under water.

"Dude why aren't you listening to me?" Blair finally heard Charlie say to her.

"Don't call your mother dude Charlie", Chuck chastised his youngest child. "Your mom is probably tired."

"She is still not answering me. Did you bring me any presents?"

"It's not all about presents" Tabitha chastised her younger brother.

Blair looked at Charlie, "sorry bud, I didn't have time to do any shopping. I can take you to the shop next week".

"Mom has you spoilt Charlie", Tabitha rolled her eyes

"Ha!" Savannah exclaimed, "like Dad has you spoilt Tabitha? Nobody loves the middle child."

"Stop it you three. We love you all equally," Chuck turned Charlie around by the shoulders and handed Charlie his phone and his wallet, "take my phone and get your sisters to help you order something for dinner."

"Ok but I can't stay for dinner, I have a biology study session so I need to leave at six. Urg I hate biology, it's not like it matters if I know what the inside of a frog looks like".

"Biology matters Tabs", Chuck answered.

Charlie and Savannah started to fight over the phone and whether to have to have Thai or Italian. Tabitha and Chuck exchanged another quick look before Chuck asked her to go and stop her siblings fighting. Blair watched the wordless expression her husband and her daughter and wondered would that change when they found out people knew. Blair made her excuses and snuck upstairs before she lost the battle with her tears.

Chuck found his wife sitting on a chair in their bedroom looking over the city twenty minutes later. Tabitha had appeased her siblings and the food had been ordered. Chuck sat down beside his wife and handed her a glass of wine. He looked out over the city and pretended he wasn't watching his wife from the side of his eye. Blair downed the glass of wine in one go and stretched her hand out to take Chucks glass from him.

Chuck gave Blair his glass of wine, "do I need to go all Betty Ford now?"

Blair drained Chuck's wine in one large gulp. Chuck took both glasses of wine out of Blair's hand and set them on the floor. He took one of her hands in both of his and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb "right no more jokes, what is going on?"

"I screwed up the with journalist. Massively". Blair ran her hand over her face.

"How?"

She couldn't bear to look Chuck in the eye. "I didn't even think about it, we were on the beach and it just slipped out. I mean it was common knowledge when I came back that I had gotten pregnant when I was away. She was four when I came back and I had been away for over five years. Your sperm wasn't that good."

"Why where you talking about my sperm to the New York Times?"

"What?" Blair finally looked at her husband, "I wasn't, I was talking about Tabitha."

"Ok this is getting more bizarre. What did you say exactly?"

Blair looked back out over the city. She took a deep breath and knew she just had to say it, "I said you were her dad but not her father. I said I had gotten pregnant before I came back to New York, I said you loved her the same way you love her siblings."

Chuck was silent for a moment. He wasn't sure what emotion to deal with first. He knew his wife was hurting and he wanted to tell her it was going to be ok. He knew he needed to explain to his oldest daughter the papers were going to be talking about her paternity. He knew he needed to explain to his younger children that biologically he wasn't Tabitha's father but it didn't change anything. He couldn't help himself, part of him was angry. Part of him was angry with the newspaper for being so nosey, part of him was angry with Blair for dragging up the past and part of him was angry with himself that he couldn't change any of this. Blair started to sob.

"We can deal with this. It's not like Tabitha is going to get a massive shock, she was four when she met me. I think she knows she has a different biological dad". Chuck rubbed his wife's back, "I mean it's probably not going to be nice for her having people talk about it again but she knows the truth."

"Yes but Savannah and Charlie don't. How do we explain that too them? What if they start treating her differently?"

"We can deal with that if we have to, but I don't think we will. Charlie is four he probably will have no idea what it means. He got my brains not yours, and Savvy is sensible, she will understand. They both idolise their big sister. They won't treat her differently."

"Tabs is going to be so pissed at me."

"Probably," Chuck nodded his head.

Blair laughed without humour, "thanks, that really helps".

"She is sixteen, she get's pissed at everything we do. She takes after you, but she will get over it." Chuck reached for her hand, "it will be ok."

"Are you pissed at me?"

"Blair look at me."

Blair turned her head towards Chuck. A tear silently rolled down her cheek. Chuck reached over and wiped it away with his thumb, "no I am not pissed at you. Would I prefer if New York wasn't going to be talking about Tabitha and me? Yes of course, but we will handle it."

"We will have to tell her tonight. I really don't want her to find out from Gossip Girl."

"Take a few minutes to calm down. I will go and make some tea and then we can talk to her together".

xXx

Blair came down the stairs and heard Chuck and Tabitha talking in the library. She stood outside for a moment and listened to her daughter laugh because Chuck was teasing her. She enjoyed a few minutes being an observer to their unique relationship before she went in and destroyed it. Chuck threatened to ground his daughter, to which she retaliated "that didn't work when I was five, you have no hope now."

Blair braced herself. She walked into the room and sat down. She lifted her tea and drank the whole cup in one go, burning her mouth in the process, just to put off this conversation for thirty more seconds. She could feel Tabitha's eyes boring into her. She knew she was acting weird but she was glad her tongue was on fire to prevent her from speaking.

"Mom what planet are you on today? That was really weird."

"Give her a minute Tabs," Chuck instructed, "we need to talk to you about something and it's not easy."

"Am I in trouble? Oh no are you pregnant again? If it's another boy I swear I am moving out."

"You are not in trouble and you are not getting any more siblings, ever."

Blair took a deep breath, "you know I was in LA, I had a journalist with me. She was shadowing me."

"Yeah, you mentioned something about that".

Chuck looked at Blair and knew she was about to start crying. She wasn't going to be able to get through this. He was going to have to be the one to do this. He was torn between comforting his wife and knowing he was about to hurt his daughter.

"Tabs, the New York Times is going to run a story about your Mom and our family, and they are going to talk about how I am not your biological father."

"What? Why? I mean this is going to be a nightmare" Tabitha exclaimed jumping up from her seat, "the whole school is going to want to know all the details. I don't even frigging know them."

"What do you want to know" Chuck asked calmly standing up, "we will tell you what we can."

Tabitha looked at her mother, who now had tears streaming down her face. She was so angry at her. A few days ago her dad was telling her to take on less, and now she was going to have to deal with this. How was she going to go into school and face everyone? What where the girls going to say? Would they stop listening to her? Would they start making fun of her? She couldn't deal with this. On top of this now she was wondering if there was a man out there about to find out he was her father. Would he want to talk to her? Would he want her to call him Dad? What did that mean? Does she now have two dads? Molly had two dads, but she didn't have a mom, this was totally different. She could hear her parents speak but she felt like she was underwater.

"I need to go. I'm going to the hotel."

"Tabs talk to us" Chuck pleaded

"Dad I just need some time to process, is that ok?"

"I am so sorry" Blair sobbed, "please don't go"

"I just need to think this through. Please can I just go and stay in our old suite? Just for tonight."

"Ok, just one night, but you have to ring us before you go to bed" Chuck kissed his daughters head, "you know the biology doesn't matter to me. You are my daughter and always will be"

xXx

At a café, a man sat at a table reading through the New York Times. He saw a girl that looked familiar. He read on and realised he had had a fling with that girl sixteen years ago. Blair Bass, her name is now. She is wearing more expensive clothes, her hair was neater and she was wearing half of Tiffany's on her hands and neck. He knew he knew this girl from somewhere, his wife came and sat down beside him and handed him a coffee.

"Who is this girl?"

His wife took the newspaper out of his hand, "That's Blair Bass. I remember her from when I lived in New York. She was an it girl of the Upper East Side in high school, and then disappeared. She was tracked by this website to all different states, California, Ohio, Arizona. She came back four years later, she got pregnant by some guy, nobody knows who. It was a huge deal, she's Eleanor Warldorf's daughter". She set the newspaper down, "I had forgotten Chuck wasn't her father."

His daughter looked over at the newspaper, "oh and that's Tabitha. She is the most famous school girl in New York. She is all over Gossip Girl. I can't believe her and Savannah aren't proper sisters. I wonder who her dad is?"

He quickly got out his phone and googled Blair Bass. He scrolled through photos until he found one of her from her school days. She was wearing a yellow hair band. She was the Blair he had worked with in the bar in Ohio. He didn't want kids back then, he had only known her a few weeks anyway, there was no. He told her to get an abortion and a couple of weeks later she was gone. He had assumed she left after the abortion. He just realised she had left to have the baby. His baby. He picked up the newspaper and looked at the photo of Tabitha, she had the same nose as Isla, his twelve-year-old daughter. There was no denying it, Tabitha Bass was his biological daughter, and the biology matter to him.


End file.
